American Apple Pie

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Regional Cuisine: As American As Apple Pie

By: Nisha Yadav

We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet - or so an old ad for Chevrolet tells us. Apple pie is as American as… well.. apple pie. If baseball is the All-American sport, then apple pie is the all-American dessert. And while the internet and book stores have spread the recipes far and wide, there are classic apple desserts in every region that are characteristic of the cuisine for that area. Wherever Johnny Appleseed spread orchards, there are recipes that make use of other regional ingredients and traditions to create unique desserts with apples and - whatever!



If you think of apple pie as having two crusts and a filling of apples combined with sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, some of the regional variations may surprise you. Apple cobbler, apple pandowdy, apple puff, apple crisp, apple brown betty are all variations of apple pie in different regions. The prevailing apple recipes for any region may be affected by the variety of apple that's hardiest and most popular in that area, as well as the style of cuisine that's prevalent.



In New England, for instance, most apple recipes call for Pippins, Granny Smith's or other firm fleshed, sweet varieties of apple that cook up well and lose little moisture when being baked. In Maine, it's not uncommon to find blueberries in your apple pie. In Massachusetts, cranberry apple pie is a favorite. In Vermont, the apples may be sweetened with honey or maple syrup. And in many restaurants on Cape Cod, rather than vanilla ice cream, your piping hot slice of heaven will be served topped with a slice of melting cheese.



In the Southern states, with their predilection for creamy, lightly spiced foods, the most common apple pie recipes include Apple Cream Pie (made with sour cream) and Apple Bourbon Pie, with raisins soaked in bourbon. Raisins soaked in rum are another popular addition to 'apple pie' in the South, especially in New Orleans. Other additions include rhubarb, diced peaches and walnuts.



Midwestern Apple Pie is the classic apple pie - two flaky crusts packed with thick, sweet, juicy apple slices mounded high and vented to let the fragrant steam escape. In Kansas or Missouri, your apple pie will satisfy any purist - served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that melts into the syrupy filling and adds the perfect touch of creaminess to the mix.



In the South and Southwest you'll find deep-fried apple pie, a variation that matches melt-in-your-mouth flaky fried crust with sweet, diced apples in a syrupy sauce. And in Pennsylvania, the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch, Apple Crumb Pie and Apple Pandowdy take the place of Apple Pie a la Mode on most restaurant menus.



As American as Apple Pie … from coast to coast, Americans have done what they do best - taken a classic and adapted it to suit the ingredients and tastes that surround them. Whether you top it with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dollop of whipped cream or a slice of sharp cheddar, there's no other food that comes close to being the All-American dessert.



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Galician Cuisine – Roast Sardines with Boiled Potatoes

by stephenmorgan



Quite often when you research information into the various cultures and cuisines that make up countries it is quite possible to find a common theme common name for the food of that country. Such as Indian Food, Chinese Food but when you refer to Spain or to put it possibly more accurately food and recipes that originate from the Country of Spain it is not that straightforward.



The relatively recent unification of Spain as a single political entity is really the main driving force that lies behind this theory as the country is an amalgamation of the various autonomous regions that lie within it. These autonomous regions have been slowly amalgamated through a number of different processes throughout history but have all kept their own distinctive features.



The number of autonomous different regions that form what we would nowadays refer to as Spain is 17; they all have their own linguistic variations of the language, in some cases it's a different sub language entirely and as well as their own cultures most definitely have their own individual cuisines.



One such extremely distinctive autonomous region is Galicia which is Spain's most north-western province. Spain's most westerly autonomous region it is surrounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and as you can imagine for a region that has so much rugged coastline a lot of Galician cuisine is very much based on seafood and seafood based recipes.



That having said not all of Galician cuisine is all seafood based and the region can lay claim to some quite gorgeous recipes and provincial dishes and are all well worth trying out.



The particular recipe that we are looking at today is a nice mix of both cultures within Galatia i.e. we are using sardines which obviously come from the sea but we're also mixing them with boiled potatoes which obviously represent the agricultural side of the food economy



Lets top talking about the food and get down to business. Let’s eat!



This particular dish makes a delicious second course to a meal and doesn't actually take too long to prepare. We are going to provide the dish for four people and therefore we will need the following ingredients:



Two dozen Sardines

Coarse Salt

6 Potatoes

1 Bay leaf



Preferably if you can, several hours before you cook this dish if you can take the coarse salt and spread it over the Sardines and leave then it will add a nice touch of pre seasoning to them before you can start cooking the dish.



While you have been doing take the unpeeled potatoes, cut in half and add into a pot of water half covering the potatoes and add some salt and the Bay Leaf.



When the potatoes are almost cooked, drain off the water and finish cooking them either in an oven, on a barbecue or in a flame grill preferably alongside the Sardines. Take the sardines that have been prepared earlier and add them to a barbecue grill or a conventional flame grill and cook.



When the sardines are ready which shouldn't take too long the potatoes will be ready, mix and you have a delicious meal.

Stephen Morgan writes about a great many Internet Travel based issues and more on the above can be found at Hoteles Galicia and Turismo Rural Galicia For a more complete overlook at Tourism in Galicia try http://www.turgalicia.es

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A Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe To Satisfy Your Hunger

by Jane Simmers


Looking into trying out a vegetarian diet and worried that there might not be any tasty recipes to satisfy your palate? Well, you may be surprised to find out that anything that you can cook with meat can be cooked with vegetables. This even includes your Italian favorites like pizza and pasta. So before you give up on trying to be a vegetarian, look into this vegetarian lasagna recipe first and see if it works for you.



Step 1



This step is all about the ingredients. This vegetarian lasagna recipe requires these following things: one fresh eggplant, frozen spinach, lasagna noodles, low-fat cottage cheese, meatless sauce, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and parsley flakes. The healthier cheeses you use in this dish, the better. All the ingredients in this list can be found at your local grocery store.



Step 2



Now you need to defrost the spinach. When doing this, chances are that it will be wet and messy but you have to get rid of all the moisture so drain as much water as you can. You can use some kitchen utensils or even dry cloth to help you get rid of the water in the spinach which is needed in the vegetarian lasagna recipe.



Step 3



The eggplant needs to be prepared and cut in to thin pieces. Make sure that you make them into slices that will not slow down the cooking process. Lay these slices on a cloth and add a little salt. Place another cloth on top of the first salted layer and then repeat what you did with the remaining slices.



Step 4



Paying attention to cooking this vegetarian lasagna recipe is important. You will need to heat a cookie sheet and on top of that, place a heavy pan to evenly distribute the heat. This is what you will use to cook the lasagna noodles until they are soft enough. To make things easier, you can start mixing the cheese, spinach, pepper and salt in a bowl while the noodles are cooking.



Step 5



This is probably the most difficult part in cooking your vegetarian lasagna recipe. You will need a casserole pan that has sauce spread out evenly inside it. Then add a layer of the lasagna noodles that you just cooked with another layer of eggplant, some sauce, cottage cheese, the mix of spinach that you made, and then top it off with one more layer of lasagna noodles. Do this again until you are satisfied with the thickness of your lasagna.



Step 6



Now for the best part because it's the easiest. To finalize your pasta, add mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and some tomato slices. Then add parsley flakes for more flavor and color.



This vegetarian lasagna recipe needs to be baked and you will need to prepare your oven at about 350 degrees. Place the dish inside the oven for about an hour or until you notice that the eggplant is brown and soft because this will mean that you can now eat it. You can't go wrong with this simple vegetarian lasagna recipe dish.



On the hunt for tasty vegetarian recipes for your vegetarian diet? Find only the best ones at Vegetarianrant.com!





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3 Tips for Cooking Chicken Healthy

by Yuki Shoji


Can you remember a time when you got sick of eating chicken? Most of us who have tried repeatedly to live healthy can. There are three healthy ways to cook chicken, and even better, they're surprisingly easy to do. Since part of living a healthy lifestyle and maintaining an attractive figure requires your primary source of protein to come from chicken, it is only fitting that you should know the healthiest and quickest ways for eating it.



Tips for Cooking Chicken #1 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts



Boneless chicken breasts are the absolute quickest way to go about preparing chicken. You can buy them at any grocery store and use them as you need them when you make meals. Just pull one from the freezer, thaw it and cook. Buying your chicken this way is much cheaper and much easier than buying a whole chicken and having to remove the skin and cut it up yourself. With the bones and skin already removed you can have your dinner ready in 30 minutes. All you have to do is flavor the chicken and bake it in the oven and wait for the timer to buzz.



Tips for Cooking Chicken #2 Whole, roasted chicken



This is a great option because it will leave you with leftovers, which can then be used to make healthy sandwiches or salads over the course of a few days. It takes about an hour to roast a whole chicken in the oven, but preparation requires you to only sprinkle some seasonings. Once this is done the chicken need only be placed in a pan and stuck in the oven at a high heat. Then while you're waiting for it to finish ,you can accomplish other chores you may have or go exercise.



Tips for Cooking Chicken #3 Rotisserie chicken



This is an excellent option for the person who hates cooking. You can buy a rotisserie chicken at any grocery store deli that is ready to eat as soon as you get home. You know that it is healthy for you because of the way it was cooked. In addition, you will enjoy having leftovers to use in meals over the next day or so, which will save you the time and trouble of having to decide what to eat.



The sky is the limit when it comes to preparing chicken. The three different types above are healthy ways. In fact, a good rule of thumb is that if you bake it, broil it or boil it, it's healthy. Make sure and stay away from eating it fried or breaded. Both process use high fattening substances such as cooking oil, butter and eggs.



If you need ideas for how to prepare chicken so that you get a chance to experience different flavors, there are numerous recipes on the internet and in cookbooks you can reference. So many that there is truly no excuse for ever getting tired of eating chicken again.



Yuki Shoji offers a *free Report on "How you can look & stay attractive by eating foods". Go Here And Claim Your copy now at EatandLookGood.com
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The French Fry: Weapon of Mass Destruction?

By
renfield

Americans have their French fries, the British have their chips, Latin America has its papas fritas, and the French have their pommes-frites.



We love them. The potato, that most ubiquitous and perennially popular vegetable, is simply sliced into strips and deep fried. The fast food chains have managed to create total consistency so that fries at a McDonalds in Kalamazoo are identical with those offered in San Francisco, Atlanta, Moscow, or Madrid. They are the ultimate finger food, easily consumed behind the wheel, standing in the subway, or walking down the street. Some of us choose to add ketchup, or vinegar, or salsa, but they also taste great just as they are.



The civilized world has a giant addiction to the lowly tuber. It is hard to conceive of the centuries of eating that took place before potatoes were brought back to Europe from the New World and became a staple of every country's cuisine. What did the poor eat before potatoes made their appearance? Bread? Grains? Vegetables?



The advent of the potato changed our diets forever. It was easy to grow, plentiful, and cheap. The flavor was mild, marrying well with almost anything we chose to eat with it. Its texture changed depending upon how it was prepared. And how many ways we invented to cut it, cook it, and use it with every meal imaginable!



We baked it in its skin or roasted it in bite-sized pieces. We boiled it whole or mashed it into a creamy mush. We grated it and fried it for breakfast. We made soup of it and made it a key ingredient in stews. We made pancakes out of it. We sliced it, riced, it, and diced it. We put it into bread, rolled it into dough, and created America's favorite snack, the potato chip.



But the masterpiece that captured us all was deep frying it. Thick, country-style chips, shoe strings, curly and spicy -we loved them all: golden and crisp and perfect.



French fries now make up 25% of our children's intake of vegetables. Fast food nutritionists attempted to substitute healthier alternatives which were peremptorily dismissed by the majority of their customers. Fries remain the accompaniment of choice for all fast food: burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fish, roast beef, and ribs. We simply cannot get enough and never, ever, seem to tire of the little crunches of pleasure.



The innocuous potato, relatively low in calories and packing its fair share of vitamins and minerals, has been transformed into a culinary weapon of mass destruction. Disfigured by saturated fat into a caloric and artery-hardening horror, the French fry may be the deadliest peril we face on a daily basis.



Just a few orders of fries a week can increase our weight by ten pounds a year! Over a decade, that's a hundred pounds, over a lifetime, an awe-inspiring figure. With 60% of us overweight, half of that figure actually obese, we must look to our dietary intake to find the cause. As diabetes and other weight-related conditions mushroom, we know in our hearts that lifestyle changes are needed.



We go on diet regimens, drink liquid meals, fast, cut out sauces, and have our stomachs stapled. We join gyms, buy home exercise equipment, and follow along with television fitness shows. We blame the additives in our food, the hormones in our meat, and the fat in our salad dressings. We forsake the carbohydrates and sugars that our bodies can't process and opt for high fiber breads and low fat milk.



We refuse to believe, because we don't want to believe, that a seemingly harmless, crisp little addition to our meal can pack such a lethal wallop.



"But I just nibble a few," you wail, "And not every day." It's not the single meal intake that leads to an explosion. It's the cumulative total, day after day, year after year, that plants the time bomb within our system. It is the additive effect of repetitive use that eventually reaches critical mass and our physiology implodes.



Imagine, if you will, that not one fry was sold or eaten over the course of a year, anywhere in the United States. With just that change alone, the collective national weight loss could exceed a billion pounds!



The poor potato is ill-equipped to perform as a deadly weapon. It offers us enjoyment and variety and taste and health. But we have taken its honest goodness and distorted it into a slow killer. With every bend of our elbow to pop its sweet flavor into our mouths, we lay down fat on our hips, our stomachs, our arteries, and our pancreas.



Let's save ourselves and save the potato. Much as we hate to admit it, the French fry is something that has to go, before we do.

Dr. Bola is a psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic, specializing in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. She is the author of a psychology-based workbook for permanent weight control. Reach her at: http://www.DietWithAnAttitude.com/index2.html

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The Ice Cream Sundae - It's History

by Scott Byers

One of the most famous ice cream desserts would have to be the ice cream sundae. Next to the banana split, it is one of the most served ice cream desserts in the United States. A Sundae is just a bowl filled with ice cream and then topped with some type of sauce or syrup. The most common types of sundaes are chocolate caramel, butterscotch, or strawberry. Other toppings are placed on a sundae, but are not part of the orginal makeup. In fact, nuts, dairy cream, and cherries are just an addition to the wonder sundae.



A sundae is called a sundae because most local laws band Ice Cream sodas to be made on Sunday, so this treat was made to be eaten on a Sunday. It was stated that ice cream sodas were too “sinful” and the sundae is just perfect a Sunday afternoon.



The sundae is perfect because it wasn’t too indulging. It’s just one scoop of icecream with a little sweet topping. The spelling came from an old myth that a glass salesman gave Two Rivers canoe shaped bowls. To pay tribute to the bowls the e was used instead of a y. Or maybe the spelling of the sundae didn’t come from Two Rivers. It is also stated that it is spelled s-u-n-d-a-e so as not to disgrace the meaning of Sunday as a treat. Even though the sundae is easy to make, the history is hard to recall. In fact, many people are disputing where the treat came to life.



Do you know where the birthplace of the sundae is? There are various claims to this treat. One claim is that the sundae was invented in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, but they also took back their claim. It has also been claimed that the sundae was also first developed in Plainfield, Illinois, Evanston, Illinois, New York City, New Orleans, Louisiana, Cleveland, Ohio, Buffalo, NewYork, and Ithaca, New York.



However the rivalry is between Ithaca and Two Rivers. In 2006 the mayor Ithaca had dozens of complaints from Two Rivers about the claim to the title. It was a reponse to Ithaca after they claimed they had proof of the sundae orginality in their town. To Ithaca it is an honor that they will fight for. Two River’s claim that the sundae formed in their town because 1881 a soda jerk poured chocolate syrip over ice cream. It was sold only on Sundays in Two Rivers.



Ithaca’s claim to fame was to be in 1891, a local pastor placed bowls of ice cream with chocolate syrup and a cherry on top just as a new treat. The sundae can go back as far was 1892, where documented advertisements for cherry sundaes were featured.



Who knows who really invented the sundae, but boy do they taste good! There are many different types of sundaes that you can purcahse all over the country. You have the classic hot fudget sundae which is the most popular type of sundae. Most of the time it is made with vanilla ice cream, but chocolate ice cream has also been a popular form. You have also heard of the carmel sundae. With a caramel sauce drizzeled on top of vanilla ice cream and usually has pecans thrown on top.



You can also find the strawberry sundae at any local store, but there are many other flavors that are offered now. You can get pineapple, marshmellow (in where a creamy sauce is poured over vanilla ice cream), blueberry, raspberry, cold chocolate, and banana and so on. There are over hundred different types of sundaes, but the most expensive sundae to be documented was sold for thousand American dollars.



It consists of five scoops of rich vanilla bean ice cream covered in edible gold leafs that are made from a rare and expensive chocolate. Then it is covered with passion fruit, oranges, golden caviar, and candied fruits. The cherries are made out of marzipan that has real gold touches. It is served in a crystal goblet and a golden spoon.




Scott Byers is the owner of Ice Cream Info, a complete ice cream sundae resource with articles on ice cream, including how to make it.




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How To Make Popcorn

By: Kelvin Ho

Popcorn is a delicious, nutritious snack that has been around since before the late 1800s. Traditionally, popcorn was made over the fire. This was not the best way to make popcorn as most of the corn would end up in the fire as it exploded. Since then, there have been many new ways created to make popcorn, including saucepans, air poppers, microwave ovens and woks. Below is an easy, quick way to make popcorn that tastes great.

What You Need To Make Popcorn
One of the easiest ways to make popcorn is with a regular saucepan. Just make sure that it has a lid to avoid having popcorn exploding all over your kitchen floor. You can also use a wok. A wok is a large deep frying pan used to cook oriental dishes. Many people prefer them because they keep the oil and un-popped corn kernels in the bottom of the pan directly over the heat. If you do not have a wok, a regular saucepan will do just fine.

You will need some popcorn kernels. These are different from regular kernels, so make sure you have the right ones. Other ingredients needed are some butter, approximately one stick, some vegetable oil and some regular salt.

How to Prepare Popcorn
Once you have your wok or saucepan and all of your ingredients, you will need to have your stove on medium heat, and place the vegetable oil in the bottom of the pan. You only need enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Do not go overboard or you will end up with fried corn rather than popcorn. Slowly melt your stick of butter in another pan on low heat.

Cover the bottom of your pan with popcorn kernels, making sure not to put too many in at once, but enough so that you can not see the bottom of the pan and cover the pan with a lid. After about a minute, you should begin to hear your popcorn start to explode. Move the pan around from side to side to help the process.

Once the popcorn starts to reach the lid, place it on an unheated burner while it finishes popping. Use the butter that you melted earlier to pour over the popcorn and add salt to taste. Place your popcorn in a bowl, and give it a shake around to make sure the salt and butter are distributed evenly. If you want fat-free popcorn, just use salt without the butter or for a sweet snack, use icing sugar instead of salt. Then sit back and enjoy the popcorn that you have just made.

Author Resource:-> Kelvin Ho loves cooking and runs his own site at http://www.pickupcooking.com. Looking for unique popcorn? You can find out more at http://pickupcooking.com/popcorn.html

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